Hundreds of Australians potentially impacted as tech giant axes 4000 jobs globally

The parent company of Afterpay and Square has announced it has culled 4000 jobs from its workforce around the world, potentially impacting hundreds of Australia

Block, a US-based company that also runs platforms such as Square and Cash App, made the announcement via their co-founder Jack Dorsey this morning, who claimed the changing role of AI in the industry and not financial struggles were the key motivator.

"We're not making this decision because we're in trouble," he said in a letter to staff, which was also shared on X.

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Have you been impacted by the job cuts at Block? Get in touch with our reporter Patrick Brischetto at patrick.brischetto@nine.com.au.

"But something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we're creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company."

Dorsey claimed he had two options, either to do the cuts gradually, or to do it all at once.

"Repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd [sic] rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome."

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The company globally had 10,000 employees, but this number will now shrink to less than 6000, Dorsey said.

Block has just over 1000 employees based in Australia, according to LinkedIn, but it is unclear how many Australian-based workers will be impacted by the cuts.

When asked by Nine.com.au how many Australians would be affected, a company spokesperson said it declined to break the news down by region and provided several statistics from the company's latest financial results.

Block also declined to say how many jobs would be culled, if any, from Afterpay.

Afterpay was founded in Sydney in 2014 and has its main Australian office in Melbourne CBD.

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Square was also contacted for comment on the extent of its job losses.

Their main office is also in Melbourne CBD and they opened a Sydney office in Chippendale in 2024.

The company is known for manufacturing tap and go payment terminals, which many smaller businesses use to process card payments, allowing them to accept payment by phone as well.

Block made a $10.36 billion gross profit in 2025, a 17 per cent growth year on year, according to its presentation to investors.

More than $6 billion of this came from Cash App, with Square contributing to nearly $4 billion.

Block's job cull comes the same week Australian-based software company WiseTech announced cuts of around 2000 people over the next two years.

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